The best way to control your own personal level of procrastination is to understand yourself. If you're easily distracted and can't sustain long-term goals, you'd be better off looking out for the journalistic equivalent of the daily newspaper. Monthly magazines could damage your career. Book projects? Forget about it.

If you're a morning person, plan to do your best work early in the day rather than in the afternoon, when you're barely able to stay focused. Work best at night? Burn the midnight oil when you need to get something done.

"It's about decision making," says Steel. "It's about choices, what you need to do now so you can accomplish later - like saving for retirement, investing in research, or upgrading equipment. Do I do it now or later? The tendency is to do it later. It's a ubiquitous part of the human condition."

But many people also have a hard time determining whether they fit the description of moderate or acute procrastinators.

"It's not to say that they're not getting anything done," says Steel. "[They're] just taking the edge off their game. I once did a presentation to a group of oil executives, and I asked how many were procrastinators. Virtually all put up their hands. Everyone said they would have done better if they were more on the ball."

It's also not all personal, says Ferrari. There are things that we can do as a society to change the culture.

"We don't give the early bird the worm anymore," he says. "In this age of political correctness, we want everyone to have the worm. We don't give bonuses for being early; we punish for being late."

The government fines you if you're late filing your taxes but doesn't reward you if you do it early. Wait until after a holiday to do your shopping, and you get a discount.